Saturday 12th September, at The Island (Artspace Lifespace at the Bridewell), Bristol

Members of BRHG will be doing three talks/discussions:

From Peterloo to Captain Swing: Victims or Insurgents? – Roger

Room 1 Ground Floor: 11.00am-12.00pm: A BRHG talk on the hidden history of struggle in the 19th century. It focuses on how and why major struggles have been ignored or distorted by the left as well as the right.

A Brief History of Corporations – Dan Bennett

The Films and Media Workshops room First Floor: 2.00pm – 3.00pm: A talk/discussion by Bristol Radical History Group member and expert on the Corporation, Dan Bennett. Dan will answer the questions ‘What are Corporations?’, ‘Where do they come from? and ‘How do they derive their power?’

Social crime – who makes the law, and who is it for? Steve Mills

Room 2 First Floor: 3.00pm – 4.00pm:  A talk followed by discussion, about the history of crime and the formation of the British legal system. Taking in social crime, the moral economy, smuggling, poaching, shoplifting and riots!

BRHG member Steve Mills introduces:

INDYMEDIA PRESENTS: WINSTANLEY (THE DIGGERS AND ST GEORGE’S HILL)

Indymedia presents: Winstanley (the Diggers and St George’s Hill)
The Cube Microplex, Dove St. South, Bristol,
Monday 7 September 7.30pm
£4 or £3 (but nobody refused for lack of funds)

Winstanley – Andrew Mollo & Kevin Brownlow, UK / 1975 / 95 mins / cert 15

On 1 April 1649, Winstanley and the Diggers set out to form a commune and work the land of St George’s Hill, in an action designed to reclaim land for the poor who had been dispossessed by Cromwell’s recent English Revolution.  Unsurprisingly in a time of great upheaval they meet much opposition, surprisingly some of it from those peasants they seek to enthuse, and their action lasts only a year, although many similar settlements occur elsewhere.  Their story delves into issues relevant then as now – land ownership, class, power and the law, religious puritanism, and hierarchies.

Authentic, exciting and dramatic, with spellbinding black and white camera-work creating a powerful visual experience. The film is rightly judged to be a classic, and is based on the book Comrade Jacob, by David Caute  (1961), who was a former pupil of the great historian and one time communist, Christopher Hill.

Watch out too for the appearance of some genuine 1970′s hippies as ranters! Enjoy.

The film will be introduced by Steve Mills, a local trade union activist and Bristol radical historian.